Lower 48 natural gas storage operators drew a net 107 Bcf from inventories during the week to Dec. 13, compared to a five-year average withdrawal of 112 Bcf, the U.S. Energy Information Administration reported.

The pull, above the 93 Bcf forecast by an S&P Global Platts analyst survey, brought total working gas supply to 3,411 Bcf, or 618 Bcf above the year-ago level and 9 Bcf below the five-year average.

By region:

* In the East, storage levels were down 29 Bcf on the week at 838 Bcf, 20% more than a year ago.

* In the Midwest, inventories dropped 40 Bcf at 973 Bcf, 15% higher than the year before.

* In the Mountain region, storage levels dropped 7 Bcf at 186 Bcf, 21% higher than a year ago.

* In the Pacific region, inventories fell 3 Bcf at 273 Bcf, 19% higher than a year ago.

* In the South Central region, storage levels fell 26 Bcf at 1,142 Bcf, 32% more than a year earlier. Of that total, 319 Bcf was in salt cavern facilities and 823 Bcf was in non-salt-cavern facilities. Working gas stocks dropped 1% in salt cavern facilities from the previous week and were down 2.8% in non-salt-cavern facilities.

S&P Global Platts and S&P Global Market Intelligence are owned by S&P Global Inc.